No. 16 Harvard Overwhelms Hartford
from staff reports
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Jeff Cohen tallied a
career-high five goals and handed out an assist and Travis Burr
also netted a career-best by scoring four times to guide the No. 16
Harvard men's lacrosse team to an 18-7 non-conference victory
against Hartford Friday evening at Cumnock Turf. Jesse Fehr
added a hat trick and Nick Smith won 14 face-offs for the Crimson
cause, helping the team improve its record to 3-1 on the
season.
Harvard scored three times in the first five minutes and led, 6-0,
after the first period of play. Burr opened the scoring with
the game's only man-up goal, coming at 11:31. Less than 10
seconds later, Smith found the back of the net on an unassisted
goal before Terry White gave Harvard a 3-0 lead after receiving a
pass from Nick Sapia at 10:19.
Jason Duboe, Burr and Cohen each added goals later in the period,
making it a 6-0 contest. The Crimson held a 12-2 advantage in
shots and collected 13 of 18 ground balls in the first.
The Hawks had a two-goal run midway through the second as Ryan
Compitello and Vinny Pellizzi got Hartford (0-4) on the scoreboard.
Kevin Vaughan handed out his second assist of the day on a Jeff
Wannop score at 6:42, and Duboe followed with another unassisted
tally at 4:51, pushing Harvard's lead to 8-2. Hartford's
Carter Bender and Burr traded goals late in the half, as the
Crimson took a 9-3 advantage into the break.
After Hartford scored twice within an eight-second window around
the 10-minute mark of the third, the Crimson went on an 8-0 run as
the team fired on all cylinders. Fehr started the run with a
score at 8:41 after receiving a pass from Cohen. Two minutes
later, Fehr dished out an assist to Burr, who netted his fourth
goal at 6:29. Cohen added his third and fourth scores at 6:13
and 2:26, respectively, before Fehr closed out the scoring in the
third with an unassisted chance at 1:29.
Early in the fourth, Max Motschwiller became the eighth Crimson
player to find the back of the net, as he scored at 14:09.
Cohen collected his fifth at 13:00 before Fehr capped the run at
8:23, giving Harvard its largest lead of the day, 18-5.
Joe Pike played nearly 55 minutes in cage and made five saves,
including two in the first and third quarters. The Crimson
outshot the Hawks, 47-15, and grabbed 39 ground balls, compared to
30 for Hartford. The Hawks won 15-of-29 face-offs in the
contest. Harvard held Hartford scoreless on three man-up
opportunities, while the Crimson was successful on 1-of-4
attempts.
Harvard's 18 goals on the evening represented the most for the
program since the team defeated Holy Cross, 19-9, back on May 1,
2004.
Up next, the Crimson will open the Ivy League portion of its
schedule when the team hosts Penn at Harvard Stadium Saturday,
March 21. The game is slated to begin at 1 p.m.
